Beyond the Realm of Individuality: Nature and Children

Abstract

As we have seen, abstract or Western liberalism has been criticized due to the universal pretensions of its philosophical principles. Most critiques, including this one, have done so by showing the way in which the basic liberal premise of universal individuality is nonetheless culturally and historically situated. However, in spite of these critiques, individuality remains a very useful abstract principle for public order and for the allocation of rights and duties. When speaking about justice, the principle of freedom entails that authorities have no power to impose arbitrarily on individuals; and equality has brought about an important sociological trend in liberal polities toward decreasing discrimination of people on any basis. My contention is that these efforts toward social change will remain marginal unless liberalism embraces the moral principle of compassion. The Western tradition of liberal thought has had a structural need to define individuality with contrastive definitions that have been classist, racist, and patriarchal. In the twenty-first century though, many liberal polities have developed legal frameworks to include, accommodate, and even compensate people who could be discriminated—or have been discriminated against in the past—due to assumptions of inferiority.